


More Than Friends

by Higgles123



Category: Legend (2015)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:27:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25635802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higgles123/pseuds/Higgles123
Summary: Ronnie Kray thought he knew everything about his best friend, Roisin. Turns out he was in for a big surprise
Relationships: Ronald "Ronnie" Kray/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	More Than Friends

Roisin smiled when the customer handed her the money for his drinks, but the smile quickly faded when she turned to put the money in the till. That was the moment that she allowed herself to screw up her face in pain and let out an anguished breath. This wasn’t happening right now. It couldn’t be happening right now. It wasn’t time. And that was how the remainder of the night went. She did her job, serving drink after drink, laughing at harmless flirting and terrible jokes but the second her back was turned she let her facade to crumble momentarily.

“You alright love?” Albie questioned in concern when he found her in the back room hunched over a crate of glass tumblers fresh out of the steam washer.

“Fine, Albie,” she nodded, forcing a smile. “Just got a bit of stomach ache.”

“Do you need me to fetch the doctor?”

“Don’t be daft,” she let out a pained laugh. “It’s just women’s problems you know.”

“Oh,” Albie grimaced uncomfortably, holding up his hands. “Enough said. Just… if you need anything just let me know, yeah? Shall I let Ron know?”

“No,” Roisin answered a little too quickly. “I mean, you know how he worries Alb. Don’t want him to get all riled up for nothing, especially when Reggie said he’s not been taking his pills properly.”

Growing up opposite the Krays meant that despite that six year age gap, they had somehow become firm friends, especially her and Ronnie. They just understood each other. She always saw the bits of Ronnie that no one else ever did; the softness and the kindness. With her he was always gentle and sweet, and for years she had dreamed of a life with him as more than just friends. But that was never meant to be and she was just glad to have him in her life as a friend if nothing else.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Albie agreed. “Well, look after yourself sweetheart and I’ll see you in a bit.”

“See you later, Albie.”

Taking a deep breath, Roisin stood up straight and used the reflection on one of the silver trays to look at herself. Patting down her auburn hair she sighed. There were only a couple more hours to go; she could do this.

By the time the club was closed, Roisin thought she was about to pass out from pain. She just needed to get everything cleaned up and then leave as soon as possible. It was Wednesday which was always a quiet one so the other two girls who had been behind the bar with her all night had gone home because she had offered to stay behind and do the close down. She knew that Ronnie and Reggie were in their office and as long as they stayed in there, she could get everything done quickly and be gone within the hour.

Her legs almost gave out beneath her when as she walked carefully down the cellar steps. The darkness that usually terrified her provided a strange sort of salvation tonight, and when another pain tore through her body she gripped hold of one of the beer barrels and groaned loudly. The pressure in between her legs increased and she cried out.

“No no,” she sobbed. “Not now. Please not now.”

She cried out again and something inside of her forced her to grit her teeth and bare down like an animal in pain. Yanking up her navy skirt, she reached inside of her knickers with a trembling hand and sobbed when she felt it. The urge to push overcame her again and leaning against the barrel once more she couldn’t stop the cry that left her mouth.

“Roz?” she heard Ronnie’s voice at the top of the stairs but she couldn’t answer. “Roisin? You down here?”

Ron was beside her in an instant, alarm written across his face as he fell to his knees beside her. Bellowing for Reggie at the top of his lungs, Ronnie put an arm around Roisin as she sagged against the barrel, sobbing quietly.

“Please help me, Ron,” she muttered. “I thought I could do it on my own and I can’t.”

“Can’t do what, love?” he frowned as she tried to catch her breath.

“I’m scared, Ronnie.”

“What the fuckin’ hell is goin’ on down here?” Reggie stomped down the stairs angrily, cigarette hanging out of his mouth and annoyance written across his face.

Before anyone could answer, Roisin’s face contorted in agony and Ron and Reg looked at each other in horror when they realised what was happening. Roisin’s voice cracked as her body strained to push and Ronnie rubbed her back soothingly.

“Albie!” Reg shouted. “Go and phone a fuckin’ ambulance now!”

“What’s the matter, Reg?” Albie called down.

“Roisin’s havin’ a baby!”

“Roisin’s having a what? What the hell are you talki-“

“-Just phone the fuckin’ ambulance now!” he ordered. “What can I do, Ron?”

“I don’t bloody know, do I?” Ronnie was surprisingly calm, his intense gaze focused on nothing but Roisin who sighed as the contraction left her body. “Where’s Mum when you bloody need her, eh? Right, take your jacket off so we can lie her down and then we’ll see from there I suppose.”

“It’s alright, love,” Ronnie muttered softly as he helped her to lay down on the floor. Reg knelt down on the ground and rested her head in his lap for some support.

“I’m sorry, Ron,” Roisin cried, tears rolling down her reddened cheeks. “I wanted to tell you.”

“It’s alright,” he patted her leg. “Don’t you worry about all that now, eh? Let’s just keep you comfy til the ambulance gets here.”

“I don’t think I can wait that long,” she gritted her teeth as another pain started. “Please…ah fuck… please help me.”

Ronnie puffed out his cheeks in despair. There was nothing else for it, he was going to have to look because if Roisin was right then she was about to pop out a bloody baby on the cellar floor.

“Roz, I’m gonna have to look,” he eyed her questioningly. The amount of times he had dreamed of having her on her back and lifting up her skirt while she writhed beneath him. Only this weren’t anything like his dreams; this was like a fucking nightmare

“I don’t care,” she groaned. “I don’t care.”

Like most men, Ronnie Kray had no knowledge of delivering babies or anything that went on in the delivery room. It was a place that men were kept away from and for good reason. But it didn’t take an expert to spot a baby literally coming out of a woman’s downstairs area, and his eyes bugged behind his glasses when he realised the head was almost out. A million thoughts were swirling around his head such as how was this even happening? How was the person he thought of as his closest friend giving birth in his club and he hadn’t even been aware she was pregnant. He blinked himself back into reality because now really wasn’t the time for thinking

“What’s happenin’, Ron?” Reg eyed him anxiously.

“Well, I’m no fuckin’ midwife Reginald but I think we’re about to welcome a new life into the world right now.”

“We can’t,” Reggie sputtered. “The ambulance’ll be here in a minute so the baby’s gonna just have to wait.”

“Don’t think that’s how it works, mate,” Ronnie muttered, and sure enough Roisin began to bare down again.

Reggie swept her hair back from her face and tried his best to offer words of reassurance and encouragement, but Roisin was like a woman possessed. She was past the point of no return and in her addled state all she could think about was pushing and nothing else. Minutes passed but it was like time had stopped as Reggie and Ronnie could do nothing to stop what was happening. Roisin’s body sagged as the tiny human slipped out of her and into the arms of one of London’s most notorious gangsters who handled the infant like it was made of glass. Shrugging off his own jacket, Ronnie wrapped the baby girl up and placed her into Roisin’s eagerly waiting arms.

“Hello baby,” she whispered, tears of exhaustion, happiness and apprehension all rolling down her cheeks at once. The tiny baby with a light dusting of blonde hair mewled at the sound of her mother’s voice and behind Roisin, Reg peered over to touch the baby’s tiny fingers.

“The ambulance is here,” Albie shouted.

“Bit fuckin’ late now,” Ronnie muttered, unable to take his eyes off of the sight before him. His heart clenched as he looked at Reggie and Roisin smiling down at the baby and they looked like a little family. He knew of course that Reggie and Roisin didn’t see each other in that way, but right in that very moment Ronnie imagined the face of another man on his brother and it hurt. It hurt because he wanted that man to be him. Only another had gotten to his Roisin before him and now he would never have her.

………… ………… ………… ………… ………… ………… ………… ………… ………… …………

Roisin lay in the hospital bed and stared up at the ceiling. She had stopped listening to her mother’s angry tirade minutes before. She didn’t care what her parents thought, she realised, because all she could think about was the baby girl in the nursery at the end of the ward who belonged to her. For months she had hidden her pregnancy, afraid to reveal that a drunken one night stand had resulted in her life being ruined forever; afraid of people saying the very things that her own mother was right now. But she had been afraid for nothing because in the hours since becoming a mother herself, she had gained an inner strength she had never possessed before. The urge to nurture and love the small human she had grown overshadowed her fear of being outcast.

“Excuse me, Miss O’Donnell,” the nurse popped her head around the door, forcing Roisin’s mother to be quiet. “There’s a visitor outside for you.”

“Tell them to go away,” her mother ordered.

“No,” Roisin argued. “Did they give their name?”

“Er, a Mr Kray,” the nurse shifted uncomfortably.

“That’s all you bloody need,” Roisin’s mother rolled her eyes. “You wouldn’t be in this mess if you didn’t hang around with likes of them.”

“Shut up, Mum,” Roisin snapped, not even caring that her mother looked about ready to slap her. “I think it’s best you go anyway.”

“I see,” her mother sniffed haughtily, clasping her handbag as she stood. “Well if you value him over your own parents then perhaps he’ll take you and your brat in when you leave this place, because me and your father sure as hell won’t have you back in our home, flaunting that baby around like it’s something to be proud of.”

“ _She_ has a name, Mum,” Roisin said angrily. “She’s called Katie.”

“I don’t care what it’s called,” her mother retorted cooly. “You choose, Roisin; the baby or us.”

Closing her eyes, Roisin tried her hardest not to cry as her parents left but it was no use. She was a bundle of emotions and hormones and the tears fell thick and fast. She didn’t even hear Ronnie come in and sit down on the chair beside her bed. She only realised he was there when she felt his hand reach for hers and she opened her eyes in surprise.

“I heard her,” he muttered, his eyes looking at her sadly. “Your mum. I heard what she said and I know she’s your mum, Roz, but she’s still a fuckin’ cunt.”

“I know,” Roisin let out a quiet laugh. “But they’re all I’ve got. How am I gonna raise a baby on my own, Ronnie? What kind of life am I gonna give her?”

“One that’s full of love and happiness,” he answered.

“That’s not gonna feed her and clothe her and put a roof over head is it?” Roisin sobbed. She suddenly realised how incredibly selfish she was being. She could love and raise Katie to the best of her ability, but she couldn’t erase the stigma that would follow her daughter for the rest of her life. “That’s not gonna stop the kids at school calling her a bastard or them telling her that her mum’s a slut.”

“What about the father?” Ronnie asked tentatively. “Does he not think he should take some responsibility for his child?”

“I suppose he would if he knew. But seeing as I don’t even remember his name, I wouldn’t even know how to find him,” Roisin sighed, looking down at her stretched out legs in embarrassment. “That’s why I didn’t tell you about the baby, Ron. I was ashamed of myself; I still am. Ashamed that one stupid mistake did this. I didn’t even fancy him you know. I was sad and lonely, pining for someone I could never have. Me and the girls had gone up west and we’d all had far too much to drink. He was charming and for those few hours he made me feel wanted; I didn’t even care that after he fucked me in some back alley that he left without so much as a goodbye. I just went back in the club with the girls and danced the rest of the night away.”

“Roz, you could have talked to me,” Ronnie frowned. “Whoever this fella is that you were pinin’ over was a fool not to see what he could have had in you.”

“Nah,” she shook her head. “He’s no fool. He’s the shrewdest person I know; doesn’t miss a trick. He’s my best friend in the entire world.”

Ronnie opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again when Roisin’s words sunk in and realisation dawned upon his face. Before he could form a reply, the door opened and the nurse appeared again with an apologetic look on her face.

“Someone’s hungry,” she announced, sensing the atmosphere in the room.

Smiling at the sight of her child, Roisin held out her hands to take the baby and began to unbutton her nightgown. Ronnie cleared his throat and stood to leave but Roisin held out her hand for him.

“Stay,” she whispered.

Hesitantly Ronnie nodded and sat back down as the nurse took her leave, reminding Roisin to call for her when she was done feeding so that the baby could be returned to the nursery. Ronnie couldn’t explain the way his heart lurched with emotion as he watched Roisin feeding the baby; it was like witnessing one of the miracles of life before his very eyes. Roisin’s face was the picture of a mother’s love and Ronnie almost felt like he was intruding on the private moment.

“I can’t believe she’s mine,” Roisin breathed, looking at Ronnie in awe as though it was the first time she was seeing her daughter. “I can’t give her up; no matter how much I should.”

“And you don’t have to,” Ronnie promised. “Roisin, I love you… I love you like you love me.”

“You love me like… what?” she frowned. “I don’t understand Ron.”

“If I’d have known how you felt, I would have told you this a long time ago,” Ronnie huffed. “But now I know and I don’t wanna waste another day of this life full of uncertainty and oftentimes misery. I want to be with you like how I’ve dreamed of forever. When I was in that nut house, you were the only thing that ever got me through. Not even Reg could achieve what you did in those short visits you made. Reg never made my heart soar with joy and hope that one day I would be out of there; only you did that.”

“Ron,” Roisin’s bottom lip wobbled as she began to cry.

“And this little one here,” he murmured, reaching over to gently wipe away a tear that had fallen onto the baby’s forehead. “I don’t care that she aint mine by blood. All I care about is that I love her mum and I wanna look after you both for the rest of our lives.”

“You can’t mean that,” Roisin cried. “How can you mean that? Aren’t you disgusted at me?”

“You’re asking _me_ of all people that?” he chuckled. “ _Me._ A fucking gangster what has killed people with my bare hands. You really think I could ever be disgusted at _you_? And I could mostly certainly never be disgusted by her. She’s perfect. Like you.”

“Pinch me.”

“You what?”

“Pinch me so I know I’m not dreaming,” Roisin swallowed the lump in her throat.

“I can do one better than that,” Ronnie murmured.

Their lips met and it was as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Pulling back, Ronnie dipped his head to place a soft kiss on Katie’s soft head before looking back at Roisin with a smile. They were a family now. Forever.


End file.
